Boxing Day
by Laurie Bunter
Summary: The day after Christmas, Shunsui wakes up to a cold bed and a peevish Nanao. What did he do wrong this time?


_Written with Debbiechan in mind. :) This is my first Shunsui x Nanao story. I hope I got them right. _

_This was also submitted to the ongoing Festive Season Contest at Bleach Asylum. _

_Disclaimer_: I don't own _Bleach_.

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**Boxing Day**

By Laurie Bunter

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When he woke up, he knew something was wrong. He just couldn't place it. Perhaps it was the heavy silence. Yes, that was it. He couldn't even hear her light breathing. Instead, quiet fury seemed to rage within the room.

He stretched and then stopped halfway, discovering the crick in his neck the same time he realized his eyes were out of focus. Puzzled by the crazy angle of the walls and the furniture, he finally figured it out: he fell asleep with his head hanging off the bed.

He wasn't wearing any clothes. That was a normal state of affairs when he was in bed with someone, except today he was cold because the bed was strangely empty.

Someone also viciously threw the covers off him, too.

It was then Shunsui remembered what he did wrong _this_ time around.

A moody spiritual force hovered from the farthest corner of the bedroom. His bedroom.

"I told you not to get drunk at the party," she said reproachfully. She was combing her silky black hair, her face turned away from him.

"Yeah, I know I did. I'm sorry, baby." God, he couldn't control the slight slurring of his words. She was going to kill him.

"Don't 'baby' me." Her voice was both distant and cool. "You said you would not fall asleep on me _again_, you jerk."

"I apologize. It was most ungentlemanly of me."

She frowned. "Consider yourself lucky I didn't kidou off your penis."

He stiffened. Oh man. She was one angry woman. She had never threatened to do that before, considering how she actually liked that particular part of his anatomy.

Fortunately, he found her anger very arousing.

"Come back to bed," Shunsui coaxed, rolling over and staring in her direction. "It won't happen again I promise."

"I can't," she stifled a yawn. "I need to go to my own quarters and get ready for this afternoon. There's that annual tea ceremony Yama-jii throws in honor of Sasakibe-sama, I have to go to that. All the vice-captains are expected to show up. Or perhaps you've forgotten again?"

"That stodgy old gathering at the first division? Why does the old man do that anyway?"

"Because fifty years ago Sasakibe-sama told him that December 26th was Boxing Day in some parts of the living world. It's the day when people are supposed to show appreciation to their social inferiors – their employees and their tradesmen – by giving them money and gifts. So Yama-jii holds a tea ceremony for the vice-captains. He likes his tea. What do you expect him to do, hand out lollipops?"

"What part of the living world is that?" Shunsui raised an eyebrow. "It sounds suspiciously foreign to me."

"What do you care?" she asked, peeved. "You don't appreciate me at all. You can't even stay awake long enough to finish the job you started."

Ouch. That hurt.

"Never say that, my darling Nanao-chan," he pleaded. "Lazy I may be, I am not workshy. Let me show you how much I appreciate you."

Her back was still turned to him. "That's what you said last year, and the year before."

"It's not my fault. Rangiku-san teased me into a drinking match. The prize was my coat. You know I can't refuse a challenge…"

Her voice was calm yet exacting. "Why don't you go out with Rangiku then?"

"My sweet Nanao-chan, my precious Nanao-chan," he cooed. "Rangiku-san is a good friend. Why would I want any other Shinigami when I finally got you? I'm a selfish man. I don't like other men staring at my love. Everybody likes Rangiku-san because she's generous with her charm and wit. Yet I prefer you for your reticence, because you share yourself only with me."

The proud angle of her spine seemed to soften towards him. He took it as a good sign.

"Come back to bed, please, my beautiful Nanao-chan," Shunsui wheedled, his voice soothing, aiming at just right the amount of affection and mingled apology. "I promise not to fall asleep again while we're making love."

That poet was right, Shunsui thought: alcohol increased the desire but does take away the performance. Good thing he was fully awake now and attuned to his lover's little nuances. If he was still intoxicated, he would not have caught the fleeting moment of hesitation and the most slight of a side-way glance over her shoulder.

His fukataichou would always be irresistibly reluctant and coy at the same time.

As usual, her silence implied consent. Nanao was too proud to say yes whenever she finally capitulated. She said yes to him in the subtlest of ways: by taking off her eyeglasses, for instance, or putting down her comb on the bureau dresser – both actions of which she did now.

It was a tragic failing – the inability to say yes out loud – yet it was one of Nanao's many faults he found so interesting. It kept Shunsui on his toes. Every moment he misread her would cost him days of damage control. Once he spent months trying to coax her back to his bed, after offending her for something he still wasn't sure he did.

Nanao was not an open book although Shunsui was happy to sometimes read her pages right.

He flashed stepped to her side – quite a feat, considering that he was just prone a moment ago – and in an instant, she was kneeling before him on the bed.

An involuntary sigh escaped her throat. For Shunsui it was like a deafening roar of approval.

"You are overdressed for bed, my sweet," he said.

He unwrapped her carefully like a fragile, valuable gift. He loved it when she draped his pink overcoat over her nude body. It was the main reason why he wore it all the time: it carried her scent in its folds. No one else knew that what she smelled like, because he was the only one who got close enough to touch.

"Merry Christmas," he said, kissing her on top of each closed eyelid.

"It is the day after," she said, but her cool voice was shed of its normal disapproval.

"You aren't my inferior," he said gently. "But I will ask you what you wish."

It was the season for love and forgiveness, after all. Nanao didn't want her lover to think she couldn't imbibe the holiday spirit.

"I want everything you promise me on Christmas Day," she finally whispered back. "And I want to fulfill my own promises, too."

He was touched by her words. Rarely was his lovely Nanao so generous. She was always in control of herself – yet now her lips slightly trembled.

Shunsui's grin was often lazy. It spread slowly over the muscles of his face, starting with the upturn of his lips, the crinkle in his chin, until it finally reached the twinkle of his eyes. At this moment, however, his smile was immediate and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He was going to take his time, and he _wasn't_ going to fall asleep in the middle of it.

"We have all day," he said, as he dragged her down on top of the sheets. "You have your captain's permission to skip that tea ceremony. I'll take the blame. I'll tell the old man you were nursing me through a bad hangover."

"Such a horrible excuse," was all she said, as she opened up her arms to Shunsui and accepted him – and all his stumbling apologies – once more.

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_Reviews are appreciated:)_


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